


Animals

by Suphomie



Category: teen wolf - Fandom
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Relationships, Captivity, Isolation, M/M, Pack Dynamics, Stockholm Syndrome, Trauma, lying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:28:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27116099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suphomie/pseuds/Suphomie
Summary: “ You will be granted surprising news in the coming days,” Stiles reads, “Freaking fantastic,” he adds with a saracastic edge to his voice. He looks up from the paper and his eyes find Theo’s. “Want to know yours?”“No.” Theo pokes his eggs with his fork.“You are exactly where you belong.” He reads aloud anyways, “Your hinderence is your chance at success.’” He frowns, looks back up, “Well that’s just a load of horseshit.” He glances around the spacious dining room and ponders, “How can anybody belong here?”
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Peter Hale/Theo Raeken, Theo Raeken/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 6
Kudos: 42





	Animals

“You will be granted surprising news in the coming days,” Stiles reads, “Freaking fantastic,” he adds with a saracastic edge to his voice. He looks up from the paper and his eyes find Theo’s. “Want to know yours?”

“No.” Theo pokes his eggs with his fork.

“You are exactly where you belong.” He reads aloud anyways, “Your hinderence is your chance at success.’” He frowns, looks back up, “Well that’s just a load of horseshit.” He glances around the spacious dining room and ponders, “How can anybody belong here?”

Theo takes a look around the room as well. The room always feels oppressively empty because of it’s size and it’s general lack of people. These days it’s only Theo and Stiles who eat in it, besides dinners where Peter will occasionally join them. There are enough chairs to fit a giant family, which is more than a little ironic. This ‘family’ only seems to be shrinking. 

He glances back towards Stiles, who’s shoveling scrambled eggs into his mouth as he continues to read the paper. Theo will never understand how perhaps the smartest person he’s ever met buys into the daily horoscopes the local newspaper prints. If Theo wasn’t already convinced they were nothing but a load, Stiles is right; no one belongs here. Here is just a place you end up. 

“I hope your surprising news is that they stop printing horoscopes.” Theo remarks with a sarcastic grin. 

Stiles rolls his eyes, but continues reading anyways. Along with being smart, Stiles is so damn stubborn that Theo wouldn’t be surprised if he reads the things out loud just to get under his skin. 

The sound of footsteps descending the stairs a room away makes Theo tense despite himself. He should be used to Peter being around, but breakfast is almost always devoid of him that he lets himself get too comfortable. He doesn’t know what Peter does when he’s locked away in his office (chances are he doesn’t want to), but he caught on quick not to disturb him when he’s alone. Just be grateful he doesn’t have to deal with him.

Only seconds later Peter is entering the dining room. He seems to just command attention whenever he appears, despite his casual demeanor. Theo knows better. Knows he can’t let his seemingly upbeat mood fool him. 

“Good morning.” Peter says, voice calm as ever. He leans against one of the chairs, eyes observing the pair carefully. As if he’s looking for mistakes. Theo remains perfectly calm, hides any feeling of fear. He’s good at that. 

Not that he’s afraid of Peter. He’s not. But when you live with a psychotic alpha that could reasonably kill you if you pissed them off, it’s best to stay alert when they’re around. 

He can’t help but glance at Stiles, who’s barely looked up from the newspaper. He’s never known why Stiles is so casual around him. He knows exactly what he’s capable of, maybe more than anyone. Theo isn’t sure if he admires the bravery or is astonished by the carelessness.

But in all fairness, Peter is probably the most lenient with Stiles. He never minds his smart ass comments or straight out disrespect. Maybe that’s because Stiles sleeps with him the most. Or maybe because Stiles is a frail, 130 pound human that’s wheelchair bound. Peter really doesn’t have to worry about any potential threat from him besides him mouth.

“Morning.” Theo says in a forcefully normal way, taking a bite of his toast. He notices Peter’s clothes. He’s going out. He wears his loafers when he goes out. It’s slightly relieving. He won’t have to look over his shoulder for the rest of the day. Because unlike Stiles, Theo doesn’t have a free pass to openly show his distain towards Peter. Though he’s not much of a threat to an alpha. Maybe it’s because he _doesn’t_ sleep with Peter whenever he can help it.

Peter nods at the greeting, then looks over to the newspaper in Stiles’ hands. “What do the stars have in line for you today, Stiles?” He asks teasingly as he starts walking towards the kitchen doors. 

“Same old.” Stiles responds, glancing up at him. “Want to hear yours?” He flips back a page, then reads, “A new opportunity may come your way today.” He bites his lip and looks back up in that cute way he does.

“Interesting.” Peter comments, brushing a hand casually over Stiles’ shoulder as he does. Theo looks down at his plate, holding back a glare. Stiles barely reacts to it, which may be the worst part. 

“I’ll be gone most of the day,” he explains when he reaches the doors, “but I’ll be back for dinner.” He stops just before he goes, saying, “Oh, Malia called me this morning. She has a lock on Scott’s scent.” Theo doesn’t even have to look back up to know that Stiles face just fell Peter continues in a phony cheery voice, “Hopefully he’ll be coming home soon.”

And with that, he leaves, and when Theo finally looks up the sour look on Stiles’ face is unmistakable. Huh. Maybe those horoscopes aren’t completely off because that news is pretty surprising.

Theo’s always saw Peter as a sort of collector. He has an entire wall of antiques in his office, he has rows of these rare vases on a living room shelf. He collects betas too.

He scooped Theo up from the dread doctors, some lovely folks who just happened to ruin his childhood while simultaneously making him into a hybrid, knock off werewolf. Theo had been working for them for years until Peter came along, which at least gave him a step up from a shitty situation to a slightly less shitty situation. 

He also happened to add Stiles to his collection when he found him half devoured to death by a group of wendigos in the woods one night. Lucky him, too, because due to said attack Stiles hasn’t been able to walk on account of his chewed up leg.

And he of course found Scott. Slightly different circumstances, Scott wasn’t all that desperate or needy, he had his mom still in his life, was living in an actual house. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and Peter bit him. Of course, Scott didn’t _know_ any of this until months after living here, when Peter’s nephew Derek spilled the beans. 

Which in all honestly is probably why Peter killed him, even if he claims otherwise. 

Theo wasn’t around for any of that, he showed up after Derek was in the ground. He only knew Scott when he was itching to escape this place. Which he did one night, leaving his so called best friend and ‘girlfriend’ behind. And Theo, but they didn’t exactly get along anyways. 

But his ‘girlfriend’ just happens to be Malia, Peter’s newly-reconnected-with daughter. And let’s just say she wasn’t all that happy about the abandonment. So when Peter sent her to track Scott down, she was as willing as any little lap dog would be. 

So yeah, the news that she’s actually getting close to finding him after the months he’s been gone is pretty surprising. 

Theo watches Stiles’ expression shift from shock to distress to anger in a matter of seconds. Theo licks his lips. “You okay?” He asks when he hears Peter’s car pulling away. Though honestly, it’s not Scott he cares about here. His priority will always be Stiles. 

Stiles doesn’t speak for a moment, eyes fixed blankly ahead of him. When he does look up, the anger is gone. “Wanna go fuck?” 

It may seem like a strange thing to say after receiving that news. But not to someone who knows him as well as Theo does. “Yeah.” He responds.

-

There’s not much of Stiles that _isn’t_ covered in scars.

Makes sense. Getting nearly devoured alive by Wendigos in the woods when you’re seventeen will do that to a person. Theo doesn’t mind. He’s sure if he didn’t have supernatural healing he’d have just as many marks littering his skin. 

Theo runs his fingers over a particularly prominent bite mark on Stiles’ shoulder. He usually gets his hand shoved away or even a dirty look when he does this, but it seems Stiles is still distracted from Peter’s news earlier. Theo would rolls his eyes if he didn’t think it would upset Stiles.

“Stop thinking about Scott.” He goes for instead, trying his best to keep the unimpressed tone from his voice. He turns from the body next to him, looking up at the ceiling instead and putting an arm behind his head. “Peter just said that to fuck with you.”

Stiles glances over at him before returning to worryingly biting his fingernail. “Doesn’t mean he was lying.” He responds. 

Theo huffs. He sits up, saying, “Does it really matter?” He asks, tilting his head to the side. “Did you honestly think Scott would actually get away? From _Peter_?” He sighs, “It was a lost cause from the beginning.”

Stiles turns to glare at him. “I know you don’t give a shit about Scott.” He sits up, grabs his shirt that was tossed to the end of the bed, “But I happen to be worried about what Peter’s going to do to him if he finds him.” 

As Stiles starts to get dressed, Theo watches him carefully. “He wasn’t worried about you when he abandoned you here.” They’ve had this conversation before, Theo knows how it usually ends. Scott could do no wrong in Stiles’ eyes, nothing Theo can say will change that. 

Stiles tenses slightly, but doesn’t turn back to him. “Yeah, because taking a fucking cripple would’ve made escaping so much easier,” he says as if on cue, because this has been his defense since they day he left. He had to come up with one, right? Because otherwise he’d have to grapple with the fact that his ‘best friend’ completely abandoned him one night without a word of warning. Theo frowns at the thought, wondering how much pent up emotion Stiles has hiding. Not that he’d ever show it. 

Well, Theo isn’t afraid to show his feelings on the situation, which is mostly anger. Scott knew as much as anyone just how cruel Peter could be. He _knew_ leaving would put Stiles right in his line of sight. Stiles spent over a week in Peter’s bedroom, as if Peter was trying to remind him why following Scott out the door would be a terrible idea. Theo wants to kill Scott himself for putting Stiles through that. 

“Well, this was nice,” Stiles says, fully dressed now, “Thanks for reminding me why I hate being around you.” It comes out pretty defensively. Though Theo knows that statement isn’t true. Theo is the only person Stiles has to be around besides Peter, how much could he possibly hate him?

Still, Theo grabs his arm before he goes to leave, finally making Stiles turn back to him. “You don’t have to be mad at me.” He takes a breath, “Don’t worry about Scott. He’s hidden himself for this long, right? I’m sure Malia isn’t as close as she’s leading on.”

He’s not sure why he says it. It’s a complete lie, Theo thinks Scott will be back very shortly and the small amount of peace they found since he left will be upended again. But it’s so easy to be depressed in this place, maybe he just wants to keep Stiles somewhat hopeful.

The way Stiles looks at him tells Theo that he knows this is bullshit, but wants to believe it none the less. He nods slightly, body still radiating anxiety.

Theo pulls him in and kisses him again. Stiles is hesitant at first, but does kiss back. Because like Theo said; Stiles doesn’t have the luxury of actually hating him.

When he pulls away, Theo opens his arms in an inviting way. Stiles sighs, letting his eyes roll, but when Theo raises his eyebrows he lays his head on his chest anyways, allowing Theo to wrap his arms around him. He knows Stiles will claim to hate being held like this, but they both know it’s a lie. That argument mainly applies to Peter holding him anyways. A defense mechanism of sorts. 

Theo runs his fingers through Stiles’ hair, staring up at the ceiling again. He’d get them out of here if he could. He’s gone through every scenario in his head. There’s simply no getting out of here safely. They’d be caught immediately, dragged back and suffer god knows what. But Stiles is partially right; leaving with Stiles in a wheelchair just isn’t feasible. But unlike Scott, Theo would never leave him behind.

So he guesses they’ll just have to stay.

-

The whole charade of ‘pack’ dinners has always been ridiculous, but now more than ever being there’s only three of them. Tonight’s is particularly tense due to the news Peter dropped on them this morning. 

Theo picks at the roast on his plate, glancing briefly over at Peter sitting at the head of the table. It’s always so hard to tell what he’s thinking, but he at least seems pretty casual. Theo doesn’t _think_ he has anything to be mad about. He turns from him to Stiles instead, who’s been half-heartedly moving his tofu-alternative around, glaring down at it like it’s the one who found Scott. 

“Why are we so quiet tonight?” Peter asks, startling Theo more than he’d ever admit. He hides his reaction, instead focusing his eyes back onto Peter. His hands are clasped together in front of him, tone still light. Theo knows how fast that can change. 

Theo shrugs, not knowing what to say that isn’t stating the obvious answer looming over them. Peter’s eyes are focused on Stiles, unsurprisingly, but Stiles has yet to look up from his plate. “What’s wrong, Stiles?” He asks more directly. When there’s a moment with no answer, Peter laughs, asking, “Cat’s got your tongue? I never thought I’d see the day.”

That finally makes Stiles look up, face just barely holding back a glare. Peter’s eyes have a slight challenge in them. Theo’s never known what he got out of this, fucking with them. Daring them to talk back. Is it just another reminder of how powerless they are to him? 

“I’m fine.” Stiles answers in a forceful way, not bothering to mask the lie in his voice. He stabs his salad with his fork, looking away again as he continues, “Just... tired.”

Peter hums in way of response, taking a piece of meat and biting into it. Just another mind fuck, being how much Stiles is disgusted by meat, cooked or not. Yet another reminder of when he was attacked. Theo swallows, trying his best to stay as uninvolved in this situation as possible. 

“Better make sure to get to bed early tonight, then.” Peter says in mock innocence. He turns to Theo then, saying, “Theo, I need to have a word with you after dinner. In the work shed.”

Theo’s eyebrows raise slightly. “Okay.” He says, and even he can’t hide the slight confusion in his voice. Peter occasionally asks him to make something in his work shed, being that growing up with the dread doctors has left him pretty handy, but that hasn’t happened in quite a while. Theo wonders what he wants now, and why he won’t say it in front of Stiles. 

The rest of the dinner plays out in mostly tense silence, and when they’re done Peter leaves to clean up before their talk. Theo begins to clear the table, watching Stiles carefully. His eyes are still glued to the table, food mostly in tact on his plate. Theo takes it for him, shooting him a concerned look. He places a gentle hand on his shoulder, hoping it conveys the message not to let Peter get to him without actually having to say it and risk Peter hearing him. 

Stiles is silent for another moment before pushing his chair away from the table, saying quietly before he leaves, “Tell me what he says in the shed.”

Theo nods in confirmation and lets Stiles leave. He sighs, but finishes taking the plates to the kitchen and starts walking towards the back doors.

The house has always been too big for the limited amount of people in it, but it certainly does the job at isolating them. Surrounded by woods, only a single dirt road leading to civilization and to top it off, only one car currently in the driveway. Peter’s car. It’s a well made prison, one that they don’t get to leave. The backyard is at least something, a large expanse of barely trimmed grass that they’re allowed to roam. It’s only slightly less oppressive than the house. Until you reach the fence an acre out.

The yard houses his work shed, down by the bottom of the hill, only fifty or so feet from the house. Theo used to spend more time down there, but now tries to stay by Stiles’ side as much as humanly possible. Scott’s absence has made that pretty easy, actually, just another reason why Peter’s news this morning was beyond annoying.

Peter is already there when he reached the small building. It’s a mess, but in all fairness, Peter hardly visits here so he’s never felt the need to actually clean it. He’s sort of regretting that now, eyes trained carefully on where Peter stands near his tool stash, wrench casually in between in fingers.

“Dinner was very good tonight.” Peter compliments, not bothering to glance at him. He rotates the tool in his hand, seeming more preoccupied with it than Theo. “Sorry you and Stiles have been stuck with all the cooking.” He comments with faint empathy. “Luckily, it seems that will be changing soon.”

Theo continues to stare ahead at him, not saying a word. Luckily Peter finally looks up, continuing anyways, “Speaking of which, I need a favor from you.” Theo knows fairly well that whatever this ‘favor’ he’s about to ask is anything but optional. Peter places his wrench down and grabs a rolled piece of paper, handing it to Theo. “Does this look like something you can build for me?”

Theo cautiously takes the paper, unrolls it to find blueprints. He scans them quickly, then tries his best to hide his reaction. Because essentially what Peter wants him to build is a spring trap muzzle. A muzzle for a _human_ jaw.

He clears his throat, glancing back up. “I can make this.” He answers, feeling slightly sick at the idea. 

Peter smirks. “Perfect.” He says, walking past him towards the door. “I’ll need it as soon as possible. I bought all the supplies that should be necessary.” He gestures to a pile of metal fixings in a box by his work table. 

Before Peter leaves, he stops by the open door, turning back to Theo. He tilts his head to the side. “Don’t be too worried.” He attempts to assure him, “It’s not for you.”

Theo swallows. “It’s for Scott.” He states the obvious. 

Peter’s smirk grows wider. He leans against the door frame. “Scott knew just what would happen if he abandoned his pack.” He reasons, voice far too calm for what he’s talking about. “We shouldn’t feel too sorry for him.”

Theo takes a breath, saying maybe crueler than he meant to, “I don’t care about Scott.”

Peter snorts a laugh. “No, I know you don’t.” Theo crosses his arms as he continues, “You care about Stiles. Pretty greatly.” He says the last part a bit too knowingly for comfort. He shrugs, continuing, “That’s why we’re going to keep this little project a secret from him. We wouldn’t want to upset him, now would we?”

Theo is about to open his mouth to argue but then looks away, thinking better of it. Despite how much he hates to admit it, Peter is somewhat right. Stiles is anxious enough as it is, knowing what Peter’s planning when Scott returns is only going to put him over the edge. 

Peter gives him another knowing look, but this time it’s almost like he’s reading his exact thoughts. “You know, we’re more similar than you think.” He states. Theo curls his hands into fists at his side, still watching The alpha carefully. Peter laughs again, saying, “But you already know that, don’t you?” He takes a step towards him.

Theo forces himself from taking a step back himself. Instead, he raises a brow, trying his best to play it cool. “Do you need anything else?”

“No, that’s all.” He says, finally exiting the shed. “Thank you, Theo.”

Theo feels he can finally breath once he’s gone, despite how their conversation ended. He tosses the blueprints onto the table, running his fingers through his hair. He glances back at the supplies Peter’s left for him. It’s a lot, definitely too much for all of it to be used on just the muzzle.

It’s sort of a sudden idea, based only on his thought process earlier. They can’t leave with Stiles not able to walk. But what if Theo could change that? 

He searches through the supplies, frantically plotting in his head. 

-

It’s not until well after midnight, when he can hear Peter fast asleep, when he sneaks into Stiles’ room. Not exactly a rare occurrence these days, but for once it’s for something other than a late night ‘booty call’, as it were. He tiptoes over to Stiles’ bed, slips into the side opposite where Stiles is laying, facing the wall. 

“Stiles.” He whispers. Stiles jumps slightly, turning quickly. His face changes from fear to annoyance in a matter of seconds. 

“Jesus, Theo.” He huffs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Don’t fucking sneak up on me like that.”

“Shh.” Theo sounds, putting his index finger to his mouth. Stiles furrows his brows, letting Theo explain in a whisper, “What would you say if I found a way to get out of here?”

Stiles eyes widen slightly. “What are you talking about?” He whispers back, with baited hope. 

Theo glances behind him, listens again to make sure Peter’s asleep. When he’s sure he is, he continues, “Peter bought all these supplies for the work shed. It’s enough to make a brace for your leg. Enough to help you walk again.”

Stiles seems to take in the information, staring up at the ceiling. Theo swallows, shifting closer. “What are you thinking?” He asks. 

Stiles glances back at him. “Could you really make something like that?” The way he sounds is perhaps the most genuinely hopeful Theo has ever heard him sound. And they’ve known each other a long time. When Theo got here, it seemed like Stiles had already long given up. This change is nice. 

“Maybe.” Theo tries to promise, “It’s our best shot,” he takes Stiles hand in his, for a moment pretends the feelings he has are completely mutual and not born out of necessity. “To get out of here. To not get caught.” Stiles doesn’t even release his hand, just stares at him with raised eyebrows. Theo tilts his head, “What do you think?”

Stiles’ eyes widen. “I- yeah, yes,” Theo can hear his heart beat frantically in his chest. Theo can’t help but smile as he continues, “Obviously. Let’s do it.”

Theo leans forward and kisses him softly, pulling him in closer by the back of the neck. Stiles surprises him somewhat by kissing back. Stiles is usually pretty into their physical relationship, but kissing like this always seemed so intimate. It only makes Theo more sure of his plan, fantasy’s of what life could be like away from this place flashing in his head. 

Stiles finally pulls away, features soft, almost vulnerable. He leans his head on the pillow next to Theo, clearly thinking a million miles a minute. Theo rests his hand on his waist, pulling him in closer. Best to let Stiles think without interruption. He’s the one who will probably be doing most of the planning on an escape plan once the brace is done anyways. 

“What’d Peter get all the supplies for?” Stiles asks after a few moments of silence. Theo swallows, cocking his head to the side until Stiles explains, “Why did he get extra supplies for the work shed?”

Theo swallows again, swiftly answering, “He wants me to make some more secure locks.”

Stiles stares at him for a moment and Theo briefly thinks he’s about to catch his lie. He usually does. Thankfully, he just nods absently, clearly the excitement of having some hope for once dulling his lying detection skills. Theo lets out a soft breath.

It’s for the best. Stiles doesn’t need the thought of Peter torturing Scott in his head, not when they may finally have a way out of here. Because no matter what happens, they are _not_ taking Scott with them. 

For a moment he thinks back to what Peter said. That they’re somehow alike. Theo chooses to ignore the thought.

**Author's Note:**

> New series, we’ll see how long I continue it. Leave a comment if you enjoyed :)


End file.
